Fabian Toader, an immigrant from Romania and a Microsoft Programmer who lives in Redmond, WA, says he wrote Kazaa's computer code in 2000 when he did freelance work for Sharman Networks in Romania. He is suing for $25 million in damages.
Sharman: "The work done by Fabian Toader on early versions of the Kazaa Media Desktop software was done under a work-for-hire agreement that expressly states that Kazaa B.V. owned all rights to any work related to the development of the software."
Toader insists that such a contract was never made. He cites copyright laws in Romania and US which state the he is the lawful owner of the program. Sharman's lawyer calls this action on his part a "shakedown."
